Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Pluot

Beer Classification and Specs

Style: Wild Ale

Variation: American, Sour

Limited: Yes

ABV: 7%

IBU: N/A

Notes: A member of Almanac Beer Company’s “Farm to Barrel” series.

Brewer’s Notes and Ingredients

Pluots are some of our favorite fruits. Created by cross-breeding apricots and plums, there are dozens of varieties with an amazing range of color and flavor. All through the summer, Blossom Bluff Orchards picks each variety at its peak: Dapple Dandy, Honey Punch, Flavor Queen, Black Kat & Dapple Jack were all added to a sour blonde ale and aged in wine barrels to create this funky oak-aged brew.

Hops: N/A

Yeasts: “Dogpatch” sour culture

Additional: Aged in used wine casks, blended together after maturation.

First Impressions

The Tasting

Arrived in: 375mL Bottle

Served in: Wine Glass

Sour ales, aka American Wild Ales, are now the hot thing in craft beer. The “new” barrel aged stout or session ale, if you will. Unless adding citrus juice to an ale, or brewing with fruit zest doesn’t take it over in popularity first…

Sours were a style that we never thought we could get into. We don’t know if what we tried years ago were too funky and unrefined, sours have improved, or our palates have just gotten more used to them. But thanks to Almanac, we are all aboard the sour train.

We chose to review their Pluot release, since that’s our daughter’s favorite fruit. As referenced in the Brewer’s Notes above, a pluot is a genetically engineered crossbreed between a plum, and apricot. PLUm + apricOT = PLUOT. We’ve included a picture of several varieties in the image gallery.

As Almanac Beer Co. advises, their Farmer’s Reserve releases can “continue to mature gracefully for several years.” We picked ours up in March or April, getting a few months of aging under its belt.

Farmer’s Reserve Pluot poured a moderate fizzy head, which evaporated right before our eyes. The acidity of the beer quashed the frothiness immediately. Although you could barely see through its pale orangish hue in the side of the glass, there were abundant streams of leisurely, tiny pin-sized bubbles sparkling up to the top.

The deceptively tight effervescence of this wild ale paired well with its sourness, to create an ultra crisp and airy mouthfeel. Farmer’s Reserve Pluot came on gently tart, with intensified acidic flavor as soon as more liquid splashed our palates, especially in the finish.

Farmer’s Reserve Pluot was definitely puckery! But as the ale warmed, there were hints of vanilla at the beginning of each sip. The ale may have featured substantial oak aroma, but not so much in its flavor, which was tart fruit — just like its pluot ingredient.

This wild ale packed an ample, dry sourness that was not too acidic, or vinegary. With a hearty 7% ABV, we were rewarded for our slow sipping.

Final Score: 4/5

Almanac’s Farmer’s Reserve Pluot was another quality entry into their ongoing “Farm to Barrel” series. A painstaking harvesting, brewing, aging, and blending process yielded a refreshingly sour wild ale from this unique fruit.